Two year investigation leads to prosecution

Seven individuals and two organisations charged with offences under the Crimes Act and Gambling Act appeared in Manukau District Court today. The alleged offending followed a two year investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and relates to the misuse of grant funding received from four different gaming machine societies.

The accused have all been granted interim name suppression and face a combined total of twenty six charges.

Maarten Quivooy, General Manager Regulatory Services, DIA says, “The intent of the Gambling Act is to make sure that the money from gambling benefits the community. It is important that the money that is distributed in the community as grants is used for the purpose for which the grant was made.”

“Although we are unable to discuss the detail of these allegations while they are before the Court, the misappropriation of funds is a serious offence and in effect is a crime against the community because grant funding is taken away from its intended community purpose.

The department works hard to ensure the integrity of the gambling system in New Zealand and this includes ensuring that grant funding is used for the purpose it was applied for. We will investigate fraudulent activity in the gambling sector and prosecute crimes involving dishonesty.”

The next hearing is scheduled for 17 February 2016.

A guide to understand how the Class 4 gambling sector in New Zealand operates is available at this link: http://www.dia.govt.nz/Gambling

ENDS

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